Fleeing Suspect Rammed Car After Police Mike Failed

May 18, 1995|By CINDY ELMORE Staff Writer

POMPANO BEACH - — A malfunctioning police microphone may have allowed a suspected drug dealer to flee from an undercover agent during a May 5 drug sting that resulted in a fatal crash as the suspect tried to escape, police said.

Richard Johnson, 42, of Fort Lauderdale, died when his station wagon was struck by a vehicle driven by the fleeing drug suspect, Yves Noel, at the intersection of Dixie Highway and Cypress Creek Road, police said.

According to police, Noel, 20, had just sold $100 in crack cocaine to an undercover detective in the parking lot of the Calypso Pub in the 700 block of South Cypress Road.

The undercover detective then gave a verbal signal to three backup officers to move in for the arrest and identified himself as a cop to Noel. But the officers did not hear the signal because the listening device "was cutting in and out," said police spokeswoman Sandra King.

"When the detective was giving the signal, nobody moved," King said.

That left the undercover agent on his own when Noel screamed, floored the gas pedal of his girlfriend's Jeep and crashed through two parked cars in the lot.

The detective, whom police won't name for his safety, was left dangling from the passenger window of the Jeep as he tried to reach the ignition and turn it off.

"He knew if he didn't hang on, he was going to be run over," King said.

When the Jeep struck the parked cars, the detective was thrown to the ground, getting scrapes and injuring a wrist, King said.

"Other people in the area said the detective was just swinging like a rag doll" from the window, King said.

Police said Noel squealed onto Southwest Sixth Street on two wheels, nearly flipping the vehicle, then sped south on Dixie Highway with the three backup officers in pursuit in one car.

After the backup officers called for assistance, two marked patrol cars joined the chase.

According to acting Police Chief Larry Defuria, police slowed down and were about a half-mile away waiting for a supervisor's permission to leave the city limits when a crash occurred just inside neighboring Oakland Park. After running a red light and striking Richard Johnson's vehicle at 60 mph, police said, Noel crashed the Jeep into a concrete light pole, then fled on foot, abandoning his injured girlfriend, who was six months pregnant.

The girlfriend was treated at a hospital and was not charged.

Johnson's car, which had been knocked about seven feet into the air, landed more than 50 yards from where it was struck. He died within minutes of the crash.

Noel was captured several blocks away. He is in the Broward County Jail without bail, charged with attempted murder of a law enforcement officer, felony murder, escape, delivery of cocaine and leaving the scene of an accident involving death.

Brent Stevens, of Fort Lauderdale, was waiting to make a turn onto Cypress Creek Road when the Jeep barreled past: "When I looked up, he was coming at me and going every bit of 60 mph. Then this guy came out of nowhere and was hit."

Stevens said the Pompano Beach police cars were about a quarter-mile away from the crash when it occurred about 6:30 p.m.

Although the case will be reviewed by the Broward State Attorney's Office, no disciplinary action is planned against police. The undercover detective, King said, "did exactly picture perfect, outside of the equipment failing, which you can't help."

The police listening device was tested several times before the drug sting "and it was completely clear," King said.

Said Lt. Gerry Lamont, head of Pompano Beach police's vice and narcotics unit: "My assessment of the situation is when all things are said and done it's going to be decided that everything was done correctly."